Indian Olympic Association logo. (Photo | olympic.ind)
CHENNAI: The Athletes Commission will be rolled out with the objective of giving more power to the athletes and making their voice heard within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The one-man committee appointed by the Supreme Court, retired judge L Nageswara Rao, released the IOA Athletes' Commission Regulations on Monday.
There will be 10 members, five male and five female athletes, who will be elected by their peers. According to the guidelines, "six athletes (3 males, including at least one from an individual sport and at least one from a team sport, and 3 females, including at least one from an individual sport and at least one from a team sport), who, at the time of their election, have participated in at least one of the last three (3) editions of the Olympic Games. At least one of these six athletes shall be an athlete who has participated in the last three (3) editions of the Winter Games (Olympics). If no athlete is available fulfilling these criteria, then an athlete who has participated in the last three editions of the Asian Winter Games."
Another set of four athletes (2 males and 2 females) will be selected, among those who "have won at least one (1) medal in any of the last three (3) editions of the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, National Games or the Senior National Championship."
This means the first six athletes will be Olympians, while the rest would comprise athletes who are medallists at Asian, Commonwealth, National Games and senior nationals in any of the last three editions.
Who will select?
The Interesting part is who would be considered peers. According to the document, the NSFs's athletes commission can nominate two representatives (one male and one female) who meet the above criteria. Basically going by the first criteria, one who has participated in the Olympics (Summer or Winter) in at least one of the last three editions (in the case of Winter Olympics, Asian Winter Games too can be taken into consideration). And by the second, it means that an athlete who has won a medal in any of the last three editions of the Asian, Commonwealth, National Games or the Senior National Championships. Such appointments should be made through the NSFs' Athletes' Commission. Otherwise through its executive board only for the 2022 elections. Interestingly, some of the NSFs do not have such a commission.
As it stands, the pool will be restricted to select athletes. It also depends on who the NSFs nominate and if there are 35-40 NSFs who are part of the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games programmes, it will make the pool smaller. That means the commission will be elected by around 70-80 members appointed by the NSFs.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, has a bigger pool of athletes to elect their representatives. "The Commission is composed of a majority of athletes who, at the time of their election/nomination, are participating at national level (at least) in a sport on the Olympic programme or have done so within the previous eight years," says the IOC guideline.
The objective of the athletes' commission among others is "to represent the views of the athletes and make their voice heard within the IOA, consider issues related to athletes and provide advice to the IOA and represent the rights and interests of athletes and make related recommendations."
Voting in EB
The chairperson and vice chairperson will be part of the general assembly with voting rights. While it "shall elect amongst its members two (2) other persons to be voting members at the IOA’s General Assembly." And the two elected (one male and one female) members should "have participated in at least one of the last three (3) editions of the Olympic Games."
The Athletes Commission will then elect eight Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM) as well. They are part of the voting members in the IOA general body. Even representative(s) from India who is/are a part of the IOC’s or OCA’s Athletes Commission, will be ex-officio members each with a right to vote.
